BMW Group plans to expand the German infrastructure of charging points for electrified vehicle by 4,100 at company’s locations across the country up to year 2021. The automotive giant also plans to go public with some of these facilities, besides offering the BMW employees the possibility to recharge their electrified vehicles while at work in attractive conditions.
Electric mobility is becoming even more widespread globally. In a few years, what was seen as a complete oddity is starting to become more of a daily routine for the automotive industry. Pushing the electrified technologies ahead means also setting up and properly developing and enhancing a comprehensive infrastructure of charging points.
BMW’s R&D chief Klaus Fröhlich commented on the plans: “A good charging infrastructure is one of the fundamental prerequisites – alongside range and competitive costs – for the acceptance and growth of electric mobility. This is why the BMW Group is again making progress and investing systematically in the expansion of the charging infrastructure at our German locations.”
The new charging stations will be installed in the metropolitan area of Munich, but also at BMW facilities located in the cities of Berlin, Regensburg, Landshut, Leipzig, Wackersdorf and Dingolfing. The stations will be equipped mainly with alternative current (AC) fast charging technology with an output of 11 kW.
In some locations, BMW is planning to add direct current (DC) fast charging stations with a peak power of 50 kW.As BMW is already part of the mobility joint-venture with Daimler, the new charging stations will employ a comprehensive user management thanks to CHARGE NOW access card, which enables clients to use the electric recharging network permanently and transparently.
BMW expect that, by 2021, a quarter of the models sold will be electrified. That proportion will expand towards 2025 up to a third, eventually hitting the half mark by year 2030. Currently, the electric car market share held by BMW reaches a top 21%for Germany, making it the largest player in the field of electrified automobiles sold in the country.
The BMW i3 is enjoying particularly great success, with customer demand constantly growing ever since market introduction in 2013 and almost doubling in units sold in the first 9 months of this year compared to the same period of 2018.
Since 2017, BMW is also partner in IONITY, a mass automotive industry agreement that eyes to build a comprehensive pan-European network of around 400 charging stations equipped with fast charging technology and output of up to 350 kW across the main traffic routes of the old continent.
The deadline for the completion of the IONITY network in 2020.
